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Woman's Defiance Angers Judge

HARTFORD -- As reported by the Hartford Courant: "A defiant woman convicted of embezzling more than $300,000 from a former off-track betting facility in Hartford incurred the wrath of a Superior Court judge Tuesday before being sentenced to serve more than three years in prison.

"Before imposing the sentence in Hartford, Judge Elliot Solomon told Carolyn Derlaga that he had never encountered a defendant who showed more unwillingness to acknowledge the wrong she had done.

"...Last year, she was arrested on charges of stealing more than $300,000 from the coffers of the former Hartford Off Track Betting facility, where she worked as general manager.

"... Investigators found that Derlaga was able to carry out the thefts because the facility's owner, Richard Berenson of Miami Beach, Fla., had abandoned the practice of keeping a general ledger tracking the facility's finances. The practice was evidently abandoned when a software program crashed in December 1999..."

"The judge said Derlaga would immediately be sent back to prison if she is spotted in a casino or even in possession of a lottery ticket. He also ordered her to attend meetings of Gamblers Anonymous..."

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